MANILA — Motorists venturing out on New Year’s Day following the exhausting revelry the night before will be pleased to discover that pump prices have been rolled back once again.
This, as local oil firms implemented on Tuesday, January 1, the latest in a long succession of weekly price reductions amounting to PHP1.80 per liter on diesel and PHP1.30 per liter on unleaded gasoline.
Oil executives said the spate of oil price rollbacks are made possible by the continued softening of world crude prices, despite OPEC’s failed attempt to force it in the opposite direction by cutting production.
The same oil executives, however, emphasized that the second installment of TRAIN-mandated oil excise tax hikes also takes effect as the New Year is ushered in.
They said this will definitely be a factor in their pricing decisions in the near future, but it is not expected to be felt by consumers right away.
“At least not until their current inventories, normally ranging between 30 and 45 days, have been exhausted,” one executive said.
